01-27-15 America for me

By Don Newbury The Idle American

Published 2:22 am, Monday, January 26, 2015

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Tom Day

Tom Day

01-27-15 America for me

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A candidate for political office -- pontificating for the “umpteenth” time on the campaign stump -- spewed words at 200 per minute, with gusts to 250. At full bluster, he quoted the old line about “standing on the shoulders of others gone before.”

“If his shoulders are as slick as his speeches, you won’t find any footprints on ‘em,” one critic muttered.

This is, however, a great truth worth revisiting. Many shoulders of folks who’ve gone on -- as well as those still serving in military and public service posts -- have helped America “stay stitched” at a time when more values are on trial than we have enough gavels for.

Upon exiting movies recently - “Unbroken,” then “American Sniper” -- I thought of this sobering quote. May God be thanked for others’ shoulders on which we stand in a world where too many choose to hunker down.

“One nation under God” and other patriotic thoughts flooded. Immediately I remembered the band playing the national anthem at a high school football game in Mineral Wells some 25 years ago. The entire stadium was pin-drop quiet. I was thankful for the reverence of the moment, and figured Fort Wolters, a long-time military base there, probably fostered this attitude of gratitude. (Mineral Wells’ Vietnam Memorial Wall, with names updated annually as on the Wall in Washington, D.C., attracts many visitors from throughout the state and beyond.)

A friend recently mentioned his understandable pride in his grandson, Spencer Seay. Spencer spent seven years in the U.S. Army, including two tours in Iraq. He and wife Lauren -- Cleburne residents and CHS graduates -- were in Dallas for the national premiere showing of “American Sniper.”

Their experience warrants re-telling: Seated next to them in the sold-out theater were several teenage boys. They were boisterous during previews, and Lauren worried that they might spoil their outing.

At movie’s end, she realized they had heard NOTHING from any of them -- except for the several times they wept.

She lauded hero Chris Kyle -- on whose life the movie centers -- for his love of God, family and country. She recommends the book, too.

Also recalled was an organization called “Bugles Across America” (buglesacrossamerica.org). Founded in 2000 by Tom J. Day, BAA continues to expand under his presidential leadership. A Marine vet, he works passionately arranging for live buglers to play taps at funerals throughout the country. He and 7,500 other buglers play taps for burials -- military or civilian -- at no charge. (Day also has opened a museum next door to his home near Chicago, Illinois.)

Day himself has played taps at 5,500 funerals to date, starting with his drum-and-bugle corps membership at age 10. For years, alongside of him almost every time is his 32-year-old daughter who has cerebral palsy and autism.

If you want some “red, white and blue” cheer, visit the website. You’ll be thrilled to learn more about these BAA patriots, ages 10-92. They are real live heroes of our Uncle Sam, even if few were born on the Fourth of July.

Growing numbers of folks are learning about the organization. The website provides contact information for families who want taps played for burial of loved ones. (Pentagon sources confirm that some 3,500 WWII vets die monthly, and 40 percent of their families are requesting BAA buglers.)

Scheduled to play taps for a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, he decided to affix the shiny bayonet to his rifle for his three-shot tribute prior to taps. The first shot sounded strange, and on the second, the barrel exploded, sending the bayonet 15 feet into the air, “stabbing” the earth seconds later at the priest’s feet. (“God, just help me to get taps right,” Day prayed.) The rest went well. The family insisted on making photos. The priest laughed, saying he couldn’t wait to get back to the rectory to tell the nuns about the bugler who almost killed him.

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We hope to take our six grandchildren to Chicago to meet Tom. We want to know a bonafide patriot who has “been there, done that,” and, at age 75, still is.